Council praises binning of plastic bags

The news that Countdown and New World's single use plastic bags will be phased out has been welcomed by Hauraki District Council.

The supermarket retailers recently announced plastic bags will disappear from all stores by the end of 2018.

Mayor John Tregidga says reducing plastic bag use is a crucial part of protecting our environment.

“It's fantastic to see two of the biggest users of plastic bags in the district taking a lead on this. It aligns really well with the council's vision to reduce waste and will hopefully encourage others to get on board and make some positive changes too.”

HDCl is working with neighbouring councils and the community to minimise waste to landfill. A joint Waste Minimisation and Management Plan has been updated this year and a councillor working group has been set up to promote the plan and waste disposal education in the district.

Having recently purchased his first worm farm, the mayor is excited about the potential for widespread worm farming in the district.

“It's brilliant, you can put pretty much any food waste in there except meat and bones, and it's all broken down into fertiliser, even egg shells. It's quite possible to reduce household waste disposal to almost nothing. It's all about education.”

Paeroa Ward Chair Paul Milner, who leads the group overseeing the implementation of the plan in Hauraki, agrees the supermarket retailers' stance is a pleasing step in the right direction, but cautions there's still a long way to go.

“Checkout bags are the tip of a very big iceberg when it comes to the packaging of consumer goods. Plastic bags for fruit; polystyrene trays; these things also need to be addressed,” he says.

The council's waste reduction targets include a 13 per cent reduction in the total quantity of waste sent to landfills by 2020 and a five per cent reduction in kerbside waste by 2022. Milner emphasises these are targets, not limits.

“If the community really gets in behind this plan there is no limit to what we can achieve, or to the economic, social, health, and environmental benefits that will naturally follow.

“Watch this space, quite literally, because I'm confident we're going to free-up plenty of landfill space in Hauraki over the next few years.”

6 Comments

usual answer to buy...........

Posted on 13-10-2017 22:10 | By groutby

..........plastic bags, cheaper than chips on eBay, as many as you want and you can have something..'appropriate' written on each of them. Way to much fuss and stupidity about such a small issue. Banning them will make a difference tho, people who use plastic bags will buy from the supermarket ($$ kaching) AND be in the knowledge that not one of them is biodegradable..just brilliant logic!..I can't actually understand why we give our valuable time commenting on such stupidity, choose something that will actually make a difference not just what makes you feel good about yourself and yet annoys most!

lets get stupid

Posted on 12-10-2017 15:16 | By dave4u

soon we will see no bags on bread ,buns etc soon no bags to put fruit ,veges in. Pack goods direct into your bought bags off the shelf let them unpack and repack for you. Loving the day to arrive ..no free bag ok keep the trolley load. I believe this is called bag fixing same as price fixing. I use my plastic bags not 1 goes to landfill let the customer decide at checkout green bags or free plastic bags as they do now.

Wake up

Posted on 12-10-2017 13:10 | By rastus

It does not take much intelligence to see that this move to ban plastic shopping bags is just one more stupid greenie idea that ultimately will not achieve anything. The major reason why the greens have never and will never get power in the government is that they never research any subject to its ultimate end and usually end up with egg on their collective faces as a result. Most of us care about the environment and how we can treat it well, but short of getting rid of all humans (which is the greenies ultimate goal) then we are going to have waste that needs intelligent solutions - not knee jerk reactions.

Bulldust!

Posted on 11-10-2017 17:21 | By GreertonBoy

The modern supermarket plastic bags are excellent technology. They immediately begin to break down in sunlight, it would be dust in a couple of weeks in the sun. I use shop bags as garbage bags. Once bags are no longer available, I will have to buy bin liner plastic bags, which will cost me and wont break down in sunlight like a modern plastic supermarket bag. IMO, banning plastic bags to 'appear to be green' will both hurt the environment and cost us all more. When pictures are shown of plastic bags in the ocean or river, they are obviously not modern plastic bags, they are old and already there. Banning more environmentally friendly modern plastic bags because of older type bags already there, is just a way of manipulating the gullible public into losing something good so they have to pay for something not as good

Bin the bags

Posted on 11-10-2017 16:33 | By MISS ADVENTURE

Plastic, Ivory Towers and glass window creations. They are all the same, the are a waste of money, time, effort and space. Sooner better to loose them all.

No homework, plain dumb, or cunning stealth?

Posted on 11-10-2017 16:25 | By Papamoaner

You haven't "done yer sums" guys. Hey, how about replacing them with good old fashioned paper bags? Woops, hang on a minute;- are you aware of the huge adverse environmental impact of pulp and paper mills? Similar mentality to electric cars. Wait till those worn out batteries start piling up, full of LITHIUM for god's sake. Supermarkets are HUGE plastic rubbish producers, but degradable checkout bags a mere 20 microns thick are THE LEAST OF IT. For example, lets compare MASS;- one margarine pottle is equivalent to around 20 to 30 checkout bags (estimated). Get real guys, you're insulting our intelligence.